Employee's savage response when micromanaging boss requires permission before clocking out

Surrounded by a jumble of shelves sprawling with medleys of kitchen appliances, a Canadian retail worker looked at the clock, thinking it was time to leave. They had already been working 8 hours and believed their shift was over. When they walked to their manager to inform them about leaving, their manager responded in a way that was not only authoritative but also inappropriate. The employee shared the entire story in a Reddit post in the r/MaliciousCompliance group, and the post instantly caught people’s attention.

As the employee walked to the manager, she told them they needed to get her permission each time before leaving. “She got really pissy at me and said ‘could you not stay a few more minutes,’” the employee wrote in the post, and added, “I tried to tell her, ‘I thought you had someone to cover me I can stay if you want.' She then replied, ‘No, no, just go, but next time you need to wait for a manager to let you go home.’”

When the employee reached out to some co-workers, they were equally stunned to learn about the manager’s behavior. “This was never a rule, I asked other people who’ve worked there for years and they agreed that it wasn’t a rule,” the retail employee said. 

A few days later, when the shift timing was over, the employee didn't clock out and stayed in the store, maliciously complying with the manager's orders. They just wandered around and fixed shelves, making sure they were near the manager. After about two and a half hours, the manager noticed them and said, “You’re still here, why haven’t you gone home?” The employee cleverly responded, "You said I need to wait to be told to go home." The manager was shell-shocked. “My manager looked at me as though she was mentally kicking herself. ‘Just go,’ she said. I clocked out and that’s how I got paid an extra $30 for doing literally nothing.”

The post has been upvoted by over 25,000 people. They lauded the employee for doing the appropriate thing in the situation. u/gvillager commented, “She still hasn't specifically told you that you don't have to follow this rule. Malicious Compliance is still in effect.” Others shared similar experiences when they gave their bosses a taste of their own medicine. u/captain_narwhals recalled, “I did this as a pizza delivery driver except if I took a delivery, they couldn't exactly tell me to go home halfway through.”

Many people brought attention to her wage of $30 for two and a half hours, saying she was being underpaid. “Don't undersell yourself. Fixing shelves while shadowing the manager is valid labor, not nothing! They're probably not paying you what you are worth anyway,” said u/stillnoteif.

The employee later shared an update with Bored Panda, saying, “The rule was dropped and I pretty much went back to asking to go home when my shift was over. This was what we normally did and my manager has never made a comment about it since.” They added that “bosses should not be snippy to people with nothing but free time and expect them not to try and use it against you.”